"... fairies but seldom appear;
if we do wrong we must expect
that it will cost us dear!"
it was all very well for a few days. griselda found plenty to amuse herself with while the novelty lasted, enough to prevent her missing very badly the home she had left "over the sea," and the troop of noisy merry brothers who teased and petted her. of course she missed them, but not "dreadfully." she was neither homesick nor "dull."
it was not quite such smooth sailing when lessons began. she did not dislike lessons; in fact, she had always thought she was rather fond of them. but the having to do them alone was not lively, and her teachers were very strict. the worst of all was the writing and arithmetic master, a funny little old man who wore knee-breeches and took snuff, and called her aunt "madame," bowing formally whenever he addressed her. he screwed griselda up into such an unnatural attitude to write her copies, that she really felt as if she would never come straight and loose again; and the arithmetic part of his instructions was even worse. oh! what sums in addition he gave her! griselda had never been partial to sums, and her rather easy-going governess at home had not, to tell the truth, been partial to them either. and mr.—i can't remember the little old gentleman's name. suppose we call him mr. kneebreeches—mr. kneebreeches, when he found this out, conscientiously put her back to the very beginning.
it was dreadful, really. he came twice a week, and the days he didn't come were as bad as those he did, for he left her a whole row, i was going to say, but you couldn't call mr. kneebreeches' addition sums "rows," they were far too fat and wide across to be so spoken of!—whole slatefuls of these terrible mountains of figures to climb wearily to the top of. and not to climb once up merely. the terrible thing was mr. kneebreeches' favourite method of what he called "proving." i can't explain it—it is far beyond my poor powers—but it had something to do with cutting off the top line, after you had added it all up and had actually done the sum, you understand—cutting off the top line and adding the long rows up again without it, and then joining it on again somewhere else.
"i wouldn't mind so much," said poor griselda, one day, "if it was any good. but you see, aunt grizzel, it isn't. for i'm just as likely to do the proving wrong as the sum itself—more likely, for i'm always so tired when i get to the proving—and so all that's proved is that something's wrong, and i'm sure that isn't any good, except to make me cross."
"hush!" said her aunt gravely. "that is not the way for a little girl to speak. improve these golden hours of youth, griselda; they will never return."
"i hope not," muttered griselda, "if it means doing sums."
miss grizzel fortunately was a little deaf; she did not hear this remark. just then the cuckoo clock struck eleven.
"good little cuckoo," said miss grizzel. "what an example he sets you. his life is spent in the faithful discharge of duty;" and so saying she left the room.
the cuckoo was still telling the hour—eleven took a good while. it seemed to griselda that the bird repeated her aunt's last words. "faith—ful, dis—charge, of—your, du—ty," he said, "faith—ful."
"you horrid little creature!" exclaimed griselda in a passion; "what business have you to mock me?"
she seized a book, the first that came to hand, and flung it at the bird who was just beginning his eleventh cuckoo. he disappeared with a snap, disappeared without flapping his wings, or, as griselda always fancied he did, giving her a friendly nod, and in an instant all was silent.
griselda felt a little frightened. what had she done? she looked up at the clock. it seemed just the same as usual, the cuckoo's doors closely shut, no sign of any disturbance. could it have been her fancy only that he had sprung back more hastily than he would have done but for her throwing the book at him? she began to hope so, and tried to go on with her lessons. but it was no use. though she really gave her best attention to the long addition sums, and found that by so doing she managed them much better than before, she could not feel happy or at ease. every few minutes she glanced up at the clock, as if expecting the cuckoo to come out, though she knew quite well there was no chance of his doing so till twelve o'clock, as it was only the hours, not the half hours and quarters, that he told.
"i wish it was twelve o'clock," she said to herself anxiously more than once.
if only the clock had not been so very high up on the wall, she would have been tempted to climb up and open the little doors, and peep in to satisfy herself as to the cuckoo's condition. but there was no possibility of this. the clock was far, very far above her reach, and there was no high piece of furniture standing near, upon which she could have climbed to get to it. there was nothing to be done but to wait for twelve o'clock.
and, after all, she did not wait for twelve o'clock, for just about half-past eleven, miss grizzel's voice was heard calling to her to put on her hat and cloak quickly, and come out to walk up and down the terrace with her.
"it is fine just now," said miss grizzel, "but there is a prospect of rain before long. you must leave your lessons for the present, and finish them in the afternoon."
"i have finished them," said griselda, meekly.
"all?" inquired her aunt.
"yes, all," replied griselda.
"ah, well, then, this afternoon, if the rain holds off, we shall drive to merrybrow hall, and inquire for the health of your dear godmother, lady lavander," said miss grizzel.
poor griselda! there were few things she disliked more than a drive with her aunts. they went in the old yellow chariot, with all the windows up, and of course griselda had to sit with her back to the horses, which made her very uncomfortable when she had no air, and had to sit still for so long.
merrybrow hall was a large house, quite as old and much grander, but not nearly so wonderful as the home of griselda's aunts. it was six miles off, and it took a very long time indeed to drive there in the rumbling old chariot, for the old horses were fat and wheezy, and the old coachman fat and wheezy too. lady lavander was, of course, old too—very old indeed, and rather grumpy and very deaf. miss grizzel and miss tabitha had the greatest respect for her; she always called them "my dear," as if they were quite girls, and they listened to all she said as if her words were of gold. for some mysterious reason she had been invited to be griselda's godmother; but, as she had never shown her any proof of affection beyond giving her a prayer-book, and hoping, whenever she saw her, that she was "a good little miss," griselda did not feel any particular cause for gratitude to her.
the drive seemed longer and duller than ever this afternoon, but griselda bore it meekly; and when lady lavander, as usual, expressed her hopes about her, the little girl looked down modestly, feeling her cheeks grow scarlet. "i am not a good little girl at all," she felt inclined to call out. "i'm very bad and cruel. i believe i've killed the dear little cuckoo."
what would the three old ladies have thought if she had called it out? as it was, lady lavander patted her approvingly, said she loved to see young people modest and humble-minded, and gave her a slice of very highly-spiced, rather musty gingerbread, which griselda couldn't bear.
all the way home griselda felt in a fever of impatience to rush up to the ante-room and see if the cuckoo was all right again. it was late and dark when the chariot at last stopped at the door of the old house. miss grizzel got out slowly, and still more slowly miss tabitha followed her. griselda was obliged to restrain herself and move demurely.
"it is past your supper-time, my dear," said miss grizzel. "go up at once to your room, and dorcas shall bring some supper to you. late hours are bad for young people."
griselda obediently wished her aunts good-night, and went quietly upstairs. but once out of sight, at the first landing, she changed her pace. she turned to the left instead of to the right, which led to her own room, and flew rather than ran along the dimly-lighted passage, at the end of which a door led into the great saloon. she opened the door. all was quite dark. it was impossible to fly or run across the great saloon! even in daylight this would have been a difficult matter. griselda felt her way as best she could, past the chinese cabinet and the pot-pourri jar till she got to the ante-room door. it was open, and now, knowing her way better, she hurried in. but what was the use? all was silent, save the tick-tick of the cuckoo clock in the corner. oh, if only the cuckoo would come out and call the hour as usual, what a weight would be lifted off griselda's heart!
she had no idea what o'clock it was. it might be close to the hour, or it might be just past it. she stood listening for a few minutes, then hearing miss grizzel's voice in the distance, she felt that she dared not stay any longer, and turned to feel her way out of the room again. just as she got to the door it seemed to her that something softly brushed her cheek, and a very, very faint "cuckoo" sounded, as it were, in the air close to her.
startled, but not frightened, griselda stood perfectly still.
"cuckoo," she said, softly. but there was no answer.
again the tones of miss grizzel's voice coming upstairs reached her ear.
"i must go," said griselda; and finding her way across the saloon without, by great good luck, tumbling against any of the many breakable treasures with which it was filled, she flew down the long passage again, reaching her own room just before dorcas appeared with her supper.
griselda slept badly that night. she was constantly dreaming of the cuckoo, fancying she heard his voice, and then waking with a start to find it was only fancy. she looked pale and heavy-eyed when she came down to breakfast the next morning; and her aunt tabitha, who was alone in the room when she entered, began immediately asking her what was the matter.
"i am sure you are going to be ill, child," she said, nervously. "sister grizzel must give you some medicine. i wonder what would be the best. tansy tea is an excellent thing when one has taken cold, or——"
but the rest of miss tabitha's sentence was never heard, for at this moment miss grizzel came hurriedly into the room—her cap awry, her shawl disarranged, her face very pale. i hardly think any one had ever seen her so discomposed before.
"sister tabitha!" she exclaimed, "what can be going to happen? the cuckoo clock has stopped."
"the cuckoo clock has stopped!" repeated miss tabitha, holding up her hands; "impossible!"
"but it has, or rather i should say—dear me, i am so upset i cannot explain myself—the cuckoo has stopped. the clock is going on, but the cuckoo has not told the hours, and dorcas is of opinion that he left off doing so yesterday. what can be going to happen? what shall we do?"
"what can we do?" said miss tabitha. "should we send for the watch-maker?"
miss grizzel shook her head.
"'twould be worse than useless. were we to search the world over, we could find no one to put it right. fifty years and more, tabitha, fifty years and more, it has never missed an hour! we are getting old, tabitha, our day is nearly over; perhaps 'tis to remind us of this."
miss tabitha did not reply. she was weeping silently. the old ladies seemed to have forgotten the presence of their niece, but griselda could not bear to see their distress. she finished her breakfast as quickly as she could, and left the room.
on her way upstairs she met dorcas.
"have you heard what has happened, little missie?" said the old servant.
"yes," replied griselda.
"my ladies are in great trouble," continued dorcas, who seemed inclined to be more communicative than usual, "and no wonder. for fifty years that clock has never gone wrong."
"can't it be put right?" asked the child.
dorcas shook her head.
"no good would come of interfering," she said. "what must be, must be. the luck of the house hangs on that clock. its maker spent a good part of his life over it, and his last words were that it would bring good luck to the house that owned it, but that trouble would follow its silence. it's my belief," she added solemnly, "that it's a fairy clock, neither more nor less, for good luck it has brought there's no denying. there are no cows like ours, missie—their milk is a proverb hereabouts; there are no hens like ours for laying all the year round; there are no roses like ours. and there's always a friendly feeling in this house, and always has been. 'tis not a house for wrangling and jangling, and sharp words. the 'good people' can't stand that. nothing drives them away like ill-temper or anger."
griselda's conscience gave her a sharp prick. could it be her doing that trouble was coming upon the old house? what a punishment for a moment's fit of ill-temper.
"i wish you wouldn't talk that way, dorcas," she said; "it makes me so unhappy."
"what a feeling heart the child has!" said the old servant as she went on her way downstairs. "it's true—she is very like miss sybilla."
that day was a very weary and sad one for griselda. she was oppressed by a feeling she did not understand. she knew she had done wrong, but she had sorely repented it, and "i do think the cuckoo might have come back again," she said to herself, "if he is a fairy; and if he isn't, it can't be true what dorcas says."
her aunts made no allusion to the subject in her presence, and almost seemed to have forgotten that she had known of their distress. they were more grave and silent than usual, but otherwise things went on in their ordinary way. griselda spent the morning "at her tasks," in the ante-room, but was thankful to get away from the tick-tick of the clock in the corner and out into the garden.
but there, alas! it was just as bad. the rooks seemed to know that something was the matter; they set to work making such a chatter immediately griselda appeared that she felt inclined to run back into the house again.
"i am sure they are talking about me," she said to herself. "perhaps they are fairies too. i am beginning to think i don't like fairies."
she was glad when bed-time came. it was a sort of reproach to her to see her aunts so pale and troubled; and though she tried to persuade herself that she thought them very silly, she could not throw off the uncomfortable feeling.
she was so tired when she went to bed—tired in the disagreeable way that comes from a listless, uneasy day—that she fell asleep at once and slept heavily. when she woke, which she did suddenly, and with a start, it was still perfectly dark, like the first morning that she had wakened in the old house. it seemed to her that she had not wakened of herself—something had roused her. yes! there it was again, a very, very soft distant "cuckoo." was it distant? she could not tell. almost she could have fancied it was close to her.
"if it's that cuckoo come back again, i'll catch him!" exclaimed griselda.
she darted out of bed, felt her way to the door, which was closed, and opening it let in a rush of moonlight from the unshuttered passage window. in another moment her little bare feet were pattering along the passage at full speed, in the direction of the great saloon.
for griselda's childhood among the troop of noisy brothers had taught her one lesson—she was afraid of nothing. or rather perhaps i should say she had never learnt that there was anything to be afraid of! and is there?
